Although he hasn’t been painting too much this year, Mote has certainly been cherry-picking his spots, seeming to prefer rather nice, clean virgin spots, which makes him a bit of a pioneer for others to follow. This is a nice new hoarding on Raleigh Road and the perfect spot for a bit of ‘Motism’.
Mote, Raleigh Road, Bristol, February 2025
Mote is a master of creating unthreatening imaginary monster characters, and this cat monster falls perfectly into his specialism. The cat isn’t quite cute, and there is some pathos about the piece, maybe it is the stitching that has parallels with Frankenstein’s monster. As ever, it is always great to find new Mote pieces.
3rdeye, Raleigh Road, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024
A little bit out of the way, but well worth the extra walk is this wonderful piece by 3rdeye, a Bristol artist whose work crops up from time to time around the city. The fact that this is a new wall for Upfest 2024, gives us an element of certainty that it will remain intact for some while, unlike some of his street pieces that exist for all too short a time.
3rdeye, Raleigh Road, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024
This is a beautifully clean and well designed piece featuring one of his monster characters, set in a woodland landscape (a tree and a toadstool) with a blazing sun beating down (if only). There are lots of eyes (I guess the artist’s name betrays his obsession with eyes) surrounding the character, and a couple of abstract triangle things, of which the one on the left looks a little bit like a traffic sign, which once seen in that way can’t be unseen (sorry). This is a lovely piece, typical of 3rdeye’s quirky ideas.
Audrey Kawasaki, Raleigh Road, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024
Upfest really is an extraordinary opportunity to see street art form all corners of the globe, and with it a huge variety of cultural styles, to add to the broad ‘school of Bristol’ street art and graffiti. This is a wonderful piece from Audrey Kawasaki, a Japanese-American artist who lives and works in Los Angeles.
Audrey Kawasaki, Raleigh Road, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024
There is a strong mix of eastern and western cultures coming together in this beautiful piece, where the tiger represents the east and the girl the west, perhaps. Audrey Kawasaki (who has a fabulous website) appears to use this styling in a lot of her work and also I detect some Art Nouveau influences in her work that makes it super-interesting.
Audrey Kawasaki, Raleigh Road, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024
Audrey Kawasaki’s composition in this mural is outstanding with the two central characters surrounded by crows and feathers and framed in a red ‘cloudy’ border. There is definitely a story in this piece, and it compels the viewer to want more. Clever and beautiful work from the visitor this year’s Upfest.
You may recall that earlier on this year, at the start of the Upfest 75 walls in 75 days event, several beautiful new pieces were vandalised in one night. This piece from Jody was one of the pieces. I have been holding out for a long time hoping that Jody would come back and repair the damage, but so far no dice. So my impatience has got the better of me and I am sharing the piece on Natural Adventures in its vandalised state.
Jody, Raleigh Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
I took the feature picture only a day or two after it had been completed by Jody. Pictures of the clean piece are a bit of a rarity, and consequently haven’t been shared much on social media. Jody is a well known Bristol artist who is an old friend of Upfest, creating some amazing walls over the years. This Samurai is a real beauty and an eye-catching piece, but I can’t help getting angry every time I see it because of the writing and the smear on the nose. Some would say that it’s a jungle out there. I would say that there are some idiots out there.
Jody, Raleigh Road, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
Even with the damage to it, this piece is utterly outstanding – and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Jody will repair it one day.
UPDATE – A day or two after I posted this piece it was repaired, so I returned and took some pictures of what the piece should have looked like:
Jody, Raleigh Road, Bristol, October 2021, Upfest 21
There is an interesting crossover with this piece from Soker in so much as it is an Upfest 75×75 piece from a Bristol graffiti writer who produces this kind of thing regularly all around the city to this high standard, without being ‘special’ event pieces. I’m not sure if I articulated that very well, but perhaps what I mean is that we are spoilt in Bristol with having so many outstanding writers like Soker.
Soker, Raleigh Road, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
This is a lovely clean and colourful design from Soker, spelling SOKEM. There are two or three colour/fill themes going on through the letters and a central vanishing point for the 3D shading. This is what great graffiti writing looks like.
You can always expect the unexpected from Diff, and this imaginative piece for Upfest’s 75 walls in 75 days summer event, is definitely on the creative end of the spectrum of amazing pieces we have witnessed over the last few months. The Tobacco Factory is always a central venue for Upfest, and this piece is set behind one of the gates at the side entrance alongside the car parking bays.
Diff, Raleigh Road, Bristol August 2021, Upfest 21
Diff has cleverly painted that most iconic of items, namely Scrabble letters, and stacked them to spell out RACISM. The piece, set behind the gate, is chilling, powerful and impactful. It is funny how just the work can conjure up so many images, and when framed like this becomes a talking point. This commentary piece is one of the more thought-provoking from the event, but also one that might be hidden from the general passer-by. Excellent work from Diff, beautifully executed.
At last Cheo has broken cover. He seems to have spent much of the last six months on his studio work and commercial activities and painting walls has taken a back seat. This new piece on the wall outside the Souk Kitchen (a favourite for Upfest) is actually a kind of promotion for an augmented reality piece he has done recently.
Cheo, Raleigh Road, Bristol, August 2020
The crisp piece shows a character fusion with a television set – a proper old one like we grew up with… It is called ‘Retro Flow’ and is the first time Cheo has worked with augmented reality. It is so good to see something on the street from Cheo after such a long break, looking forward to more soon.
It seems somewhat remarkable that so many Soker pieces have been left behind in my archive over the last few years, but on the upside, it means I can share them with you now, while there is something of a slowdown with the appearance of new work in Bristol at the moment. I feel that things might be about to change however, with a slight relaxation of lock down.
Soker, Raleigh Road, Bristol, June 2018
This is a stunninng, crisp, clean and very easy on the eye piece of writing from Soker on a hoarding that sadly no longer exists. A beautiful design, great colour selection and fabulous 3D shadow that lifts the piece from the background all add up to piece of the highest quality from this master graffiti writer.
This long piece is a bit of a monster and unusually garish for Soker. It has the appearance of a huge washing up session with the grimey green slime getting a bit of a clean up from the bubbly water. The SOKER will come clean.
Soker, Raleigh Road, Bristol, February 2019
Painted in February last year, the piece would have been one of the last to appear on this particular wall, because not long after the hoardings were removed and the block of flats inhabited. Previously the empty lot had been a wonderful spot and was used every year by Upfest. Another loss to the Bristol street art community, but at least the housing provided looks like it was appropriately affordable.
What I am rather shocked by is the sheer number of outstanding pieces I have in my archive, and I guess it just goes to show that the high productivity of great street art in Bristol is pretty much relentless, and people like me struggle to keep on top of it. At least this pause caused by the coronavirus lock down provides me with an opportunity to share pieces like this amazing Deamze one that I had left on the shelf.
Deamze, Raleigh Road, Bristol, November 2016
Although he is now in Hobard, Tasmania, Deamze will be forever a legend in Bristol and is sorely missed. His combination pieces incorpoorating wildstyle writing and a character are out of the top drawer and these technical masterpieces are something we can only reflect on these days.
Deamze, Raleigh Road, Bristol, November 2016
One of the great things about Bristol is that the reputation for street art draws artists to come and stay or live in the city, so that for every great artist that leaves, at least two arrive, so the future is bright. The king is dead… long live the king.
Natural adventures 